Halloween in Death City! Maka's Got A Secret?
by Neurochemical
Summary: It's October in Death City, and Halloween is afoot! Everyone in the city is preparing for the biggest dance of the year. The gang are all finding costumes, dates, and maybe even falling in love! Rated T for typical high school themes and some language. Planning to be a 3-Shot.
1. October 1st

October 1st

Halloween in Death City was always quite the event. What with all the witches, weapons, and demons running about all year round, there was not a soul in the city that didn't believe in the spooky folk Halloween is centered around. On the first day of October, every shop, house and school in the city began their preparations for the biggest event in the city. Spider webs were strung, pumpkins were placed, and candy was purchased by the pound.

As Maka walked through the streets that crisp morning of October first, she sniffed the fall air and beamed at Soul, who was slouching beside her.

"Gosh Soul, isn't it perfect out this morning? And all the store-keepers are setting up for Halloween!" She squealed. "I'm so excited!"

Soul grimaced at her high-pitched yelling and replied with a yawn, "I don't see what the big fuss is about. The city is creepy enough the rest of the year, do we really need all the fake shit?"

Maka frowned. "Oh, lighten up. You're just grumpy because I woke you up so early. You always end up excited about Halloween, too." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, well, we didn't really need to take the longest way to class possible at 7 AM, did we?" he replied with another yawn.

In class, the students were buzzing about costumes and decorations and of course, the biggest dance of the year to take place on Halloween night. This year, Halloween fell on a Friday, so the dance and the after-parties were sure to go all night. Already, boys were huddled up nervously, deciding who should ask who to the dance, and girls were giggling and batting their eyelashes. As soon as Maka saw Tsubaki, Liz and Patty, she squealed and ran up to them, Soul heading toward his guy friends coolly.

"So, what are you guys all going to dress up as this year?" Maka asked.

Patty was the first to respond, "I want to be a ghost ninja giraffe!" she looked around for approval.

Maka and Tsubaki busted out laughing while Liz shook her head and said, "Patty, you always have the weirdest costume ideas, but we'll make it work." Then she pointed at herself and grinned, "As for me, I'm going as a sexy devil. You know, shiny red dress, devil horns, high-heeled boots…"

Maka beamed, "That's so you, Liz. That'll look awesome!"

Lastly, they all turned to Tsubaki. She smiled nervously and said, "Oh, you guys know I'm not good at coming up with this. I'll figure it out soon. Maybe I'll ask Black*Star for ideas…" The other girls looked at her in slight horror.

Maka said, "Uh, you sure that's a good idea? Black*Star might put you in something…well…"

"Super slutty!" Patty finished for her.

Tsubaki's eyes widened and she said, "No, no, I'm sure he'll have a good idea!" but she didn't look so sure.

And then Liz sighed and asked Maka, "And you're not going to tell us what you're going to be, as per usual?"

Maka smirked and shook her head. "You guys know I like to keep it a surprise."

"Well," Tsubaki smiled at her best friend, "we know it'll be awesome."

Liz and Patty nodded, remembering Maka's previous costumes. She always went all-out for her costumes, and they were never the typical slutty-girl approach either. The previous year, she went as a zombie so realistic, she was almost attacked several times throughout the night. Soul ended up very pissed off by the end of the night, but Maka thought it was the best flattery she could get.

This year, Maka was going to be an old broken doll, with cracks and ball-joints painted on her skin and everything. She was going to start working on the costume that night, but she had to make sure Soul wouldn't find out. She loved keeping her costume a surprise from everyone, her roommate included.

Over a few seats in the classroom sat the boys of the group, Black*Star, Soul and Kid. As soon as Soul sat down, Black*Star hit him on the back and said, "Alright, guys! I've got the best costume idea EVER!" Soul and Kid groaned simultaneously. Black*Star always went as something really awful. Soul reminisced, the previous year he found a costume that was shaped as a nightstand with condoms on top of it. He was a "One Night Stand". Truly groan-inducing. Black*Star continued, "So I found this couple costume, I'm gonna be a plug and Tsubaki will be the wall socket! It's hilarious!" he roared in laughter at the sexual innuendo. Soul and Kid both shook their heads in shame. Kid said, "I hope Tsubaki says no to that, but…" Soul finished, "It's Tsubaki, so that's not gonna happen." They both looked over at the girls and silently gave the weapon their sympathies.

Soul asked, "So what about you, Kid?" and regretted it almost instantly.

Halloween was the one time of year Kid could cover up his Sanzu lines and be perfectly symmetrical. He always freaked out over it, and Liz and Patty had explained that he would stay up all night perfecting his costumes evenness. By the time Halloween actually came, Kid was usually too exhausted to enjoy it. This year was clearly no exception. "So I'm torn between a skeleton suit in which every bone on the left half of me is perfectly symmetrical with every bone on the right half, or a clown in which all the fact paint on my left half is perfectly symmetrical with the face paint on my right half, OR I could be a…" Soul shook his head and tuned the crazy kid out.

His eyes wandered over to Maka, who was grinning and talking animatedly with the other girls. _She's so cute when she gets all exc…Woah. What an uncool thought._ He turned away before his stupid brain had the chance to continue. All he knew was, he was going to find out what Maka's costume was this year, no matter what. Then, he could shock everyone by picking something that matched it and showing up to the dance in it. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face…

* * *

The group headed into town after school together, prepared to spend all their allowances on costumes and decorations. Before long, the girls split from the boys, as Patty dragged them into a girl's costume shop. While Tsubaki browsed and Liz tried to keep Patty from demolishing the store, Maka made her way through the costumes stealthily, looking for the parts she needed. She had to be sneaky, only browsing now and then coming back to the shop after the girls were gone from it. Before long, she found a doll dress that she could rough up a little, and even tights with knees that looked like doll joints. She made a mental note of the items and went to help Tsubaki on her quest.

Outside the door, Soul was watching her. He saw her pick up a pair of tights with something on the knees that he couldn't quite make out. As he pressed his face to the window pane to get a closer look, he felt a slap on his shouler. "Dude!" Black*Star shouted. "You got it bad, don't ya? Come on, let's go find our own costumes. You can ogle Maka at home!" Soul growled but couldn't explain what he was up to. _Man, it's hard to keep this a secret. How do you do it, Maka?_

At the end of the shopping trip, the gang met back up and headed to their respective houses. Liz and Patty each held multiple bags, of which only probably half was for Halloween, Maka was showing Soul what she had purchased for their apartment, and Kid was explaining in great detail what his skeleton costume would look like to anyone who would listen. Tsubaki still had not found a costume and Maka still hadn't given any hints to hers. She looked around at all her friends and grinned. _This is gonna be the best Halloween yet!_

* * *

A/N** So can you guys tell I'm completely obsessed with Halloween? haha! It's my favorite holiday! Maka's costume is based off of what I'm going to be. If you haven't seen what a broken doll costume looks like, google it! There's some REALLY well done stuff out there. I can't wait to make mine in real life! Anywhooo, please please review and let me know what you guys think! This is my first story in a long time, so i feel a little rusty. Did I get the characters right? Any suggestions for the next chapters? Let me know! **

**Thanks for reading :]**


	2. October 15th

**October 15th**

"Tsubaki, will you be my date to the Halloween dance?"

Tsubaki began to blush furiously but she grinned, "Of course, Black*Star, I would love to!"

"That's great, because look at the couple costume I got for us!" Black*Star pulled two costume bags from behind him. Sure enough, there was the men's socket and the women's wall plug. "Bwahahahah! Isn't it hilarious!" Black*Star guffawed loud enough for the whole class to turn and look. Tsubaki blushed even harder, if it was possible, and looked mortified. "Uh, yeah, haha, that's great, Black*Star…" she tried to look amused but it wasn't working. Maka couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or cry for her best friend. Black*Star really did make her life difficult sometimes.

Luckily, amid all the laughter and pointing from students, Professor Stein spoke up. "Alright guys, let's start class, we have a brand new bird to dissect today!" The kids took their seats and groaned at the eccentric doctor.

Black*Star leaned over to Soul and elbowed him in the ribs, "Hey man, so Kid's asked Liz and now me and Tsubaki are all settled, so when are you gonna ask Maka?" Soul frowned at his friend and whispered back, "How do you know she's the girl I want to ask?" Black*Star snorted loudly and Professor Stein glared at him. Ignoring it, the blue-haired boy continued, "Come on man, you've already turned down multiple requests from cute enough girls, and we all see the way you look at her…" Soul tried really hard not to blush but he was sure it happened anyway. _How uncool._ "I guess I'm just waiting for the right time?" He couldn't very well tell Black*Star his real plan, so he had to leave it at that. Black*Star gave him an uncertain look. "Alright, bud, but you better hurry up. Word on the street is that Ox was turned down by Kim and his second choice is Maka…"

Soul looked to Ox, horrified. _No way is that geek gonna take Maka to the dance. But I can't really stop him…Well, Maka wouldn't accept, would she? No way._

After school, everyone decided they wanted to go to Death City's famous haunted corn maze that night. They all agreed to meet at the farm at 8 PM, and then headed separate ways for a while.

* * *

At home, Maka and Soul plopped on the sofa together.

"So…" Maka started. Soul looked at her curiously. "Black*Star and Tsubaki, too, huh?"

Soul laughed. "That poor girl. If he really forces her to wear that awful outfit, I swear to Death…" Maka laughed with him and then said, "...So?"

"So?" Soul repeated.

Maka grumbled, irritated he was going to make her say it. "So who are you taking to the dance!" she spat out.

"Oh." Soul averted his gaze. "I dunno, I was gonna go stag… I mean our whole group is going to be together anyway, right?" he turned to her hopefully. Maka's face fell. "Yeah. Yeah, that's true I guess." Dejected, she added, "Well, I'm going to go grocery shopping for dinner. Is spaghetti okay?" But she didn't even wait for a response before getting up from the couch and finding her coat. As she opened the door of the apartment, Soul started, "Maka…" She turned back and he looked conflicted. After a moment, he shook his head. "Yeah. Spaghetti's fine." At that, she left the house.

Maka strolled down the road of shops, slightly upset. She really had hoped Soul would ask her to the dance. It only made sense, right? Everyone else in the group was together. Well, except Patty… But she wasn't really old enough to care anyway. Did Soul really not want to go with her? Maka thought he liked dancing with her, being with her… Maybe she was wrong. She shook her head. It was pointless to get upset. Soul was just her roommate and partner, and he could go to the dance with whomever, or no one. Maka was determined to have a great Halloween anyway.

After purchasing groceries, she headed on over to the road with Halloween costume shops. She needed a few last things for her doll costume… Just thinking about her secret made her smile again. She got white body and face makeup, liquid eyeliner and false eye lashes from one store, and doll shoes and ribbon from another. Nodding to herself, she thought_, that should do it_! Lastly, she bought some candy corn, because it was Soul's favorite, and headed back home.

* * *

As soon as Maka closed the apartment door, Soul jumped up from the sofa and headed to Maka's room. He needed to figure out what she was going as _soon_, and he was still clueless. He felt bad invading her privacy, but he solemnly swore that he would not look for anything except the Halloween costume. He gazed around her room, taking in all her items. He was hardly allowed in here, except late at night when it stormed and Maka asked him to sleep with her. He blushed at the thought, even though it was definitely just platonic.

He shook his head and headed to the closet, the most likely area to hide costume items. He gently swept through boxes of photos and shoes to find a bag in the back corner. It had a very girly looking dress in it, but the dress had been ripped in spots and had dirt on it…plus some, was that _blood_? Soul shivered. _Maka really doesn't hold back on this stuff._ Shuffling under the dress, he found the tights he had seen her holding in the store. The knees were…doll knees? _Oh!_ It hit him. _Duh, she's going as some sort of doll. _She was obviously creeping it out somehow, but now he knew the general idea, at least. And suddenly, Soul got an idea of his own. Grinning, he placed the items back in the bag and went to put it away.

In the corner under where the bag had been was a small pink book. _Oh god_. Soul knew what that would be. _Her diary?_ He'd seen her writing in it before when he burst in her room sometimes, but he never thought he'd actually get to see it unattended…It took all the strength he had, but he didn't open the book. He knew Maka would know if he read something in there that was alerting. She had a keen extra sense when it came to her partner, especially when their souls resonated, so it was best to just forget about the diary for now. Anyways, he had some work to do regarding a Halloween costume…

* * *

"I'm home!" Maka called cheerfully, shoving the door open with her knee. She passed the living room to the kitchen, where she dumped the bags. Soul wasn't sitting on the couch anymore, and suddenly she heard his door slam shut and he came slouching out of his room, scratching his head. "Hey," he said lazily, but Maka could tell something was up. She didn't press it, however. She didn't want things between them to get weird again. She dug through a bag and pulled out a baggie of candy corn, wagging it in front of Soul. "Look what I got," she sang. Soul tried to snatch it from her grasp, but she snapped her arm back and wiggled a finger at him. "Not till after dinner!" she admonished. Soul grunted, "Ugh, fine. But can you start on that spaghetti now? I'm starving."

Maka smirked. "You're _always_ starving," she pointed out, but got the ingredients out regardless.

At 8 PM sharp, everyone arrived at Kilik's family farm, where the haunted corn maze was grown. They shuffled in to a small shack at one end of the maze, where Kilik and his mother took the admission fee and handed out wristbands to customers. The shack was full of students, some Maka recognized and some she didn't. A small group of younger girls were conspicuously pointing at Soul and giggling, which he pretended to ignore. Maka wanted to glare at them but didn't want Liz to notice. That girl noticed _everything_.

When Maka's group got to the front of the line, Kilik nodded at them. "Sup, guys? Alright, so you're already in a group of 7, which is perfect. It's 5 bucks each." Each person gave Kilik their money in exchange for an orange paper wristband.

Kilik continued, "Now I know none of you are chickens, but I'm supposed to let you know that if you get too scared, you can just head to the wooden tower in the middle of the maze. There's no one in there to scare you, and there are maps to the maze inside of it. Good luck!"

The group bid their goodbyes to Kilik and made their way to the start of the maze. Maka already had goosebumps. She was brave, but she had to admit haunted stuff still kind of freaked her out. Kilik's corn maze was notoriously spooky, even to the residents of Death City, and Maka had never done it before, so she didn't really know what to expect. She scooted a little closer to Soul as the group made their way in.

Kid and Maka were the only two that thought to bring flashlights, and they were meager ones at that. The moon was at its usual crescent, so it didn't provide much light. All in all, as Maka remarked, it was _very_ dark in the maze. Her only comfort was Soul's warm arm against hers, and Black*Star boisterously leading the pack. She had to admit, the guy never seemed to get scared of anything. He was shouting things like, "Come on out, ghosts! See if you can handle a God like me!" Maka could hear Tsubaki desperately following Black*Star saying, "Black*Star, you know they can't actually touch us, right? So promise me you won't hurt any of them?"

He was ignoring her. The whole spectacle did work to calm Maka's nerves, until the group heard a rustle from the corn leaves ahead of them, and stopped dead in their tracks. Maka thought to use her power to see the soul of the attacker, but when she used it, the only souls she could see were those of the people in her group, and, in the distance, another 7 nervous souls. _Damn,_ she thought. _So they used witch magic to cover up their tracks. That's thorough_.

Black*Star charged into the leaves where they were moving, shouting, "Where are you, puny ghost? Come on out!" There was more rustling, and then silence. Tsubaki reached for the leaves tentatively. "Black*Star…?" she called out. There was no reply. Maka's temperature dropped. The "ghosts" weren't allowed to touch them, right? And she had never seen Black*Star give up a fight quietly. _What the hell happened?_

"What the hell?" Soul mirrored Maka's confusion out loud. "Don't try to mess with us, man!" he called in to the corn. There was still no reply.

Liz, the coward of the bunch, was already freaked. "Oh Death, oh Death, Patty come on let's just hurry through this thing!" Patty giggled and sang, "Black*Star's gone! Black*Star's gone!" Maka thought that Patty was creepy enough to _work_ in the maze, if she wanted.

Kid remained nonplussed. "Liz is right, let's just keep going. Black*Star's got to be messing with us or something." With that, the group started forward again. Soon, they came to a fork in the path. There were two separate ways to go, and both led forward. It was impossible to tell which was the right path. Kid said, "We should split up. We've all got our phones on, right?" They all nodded. "Then whoever finds the right path, call the others and tell them. Otherwise, it'll take us twice as long."

Even though it seemed logical enough, Maka didn't like the thought of weakening their numbers. Nonetheless, she spoke up, "Okay, Kid, Liz and Patty, you stick together. Soul, Tsubaki and I will go this way. You take the other path." Everyone nodded and broke apart.

Maka took a deep breath. "Come on, guys." Tsubaki stayed to Maka's left, and Soul on her right. The three made their way forward into the darkness, Maka's small flashlight shaking slightly in her hand. Suddenly, there was a call from the corn on their left. It was hard to make out, but it sounded like they were saying Tsubaki's name. Tsubaki gasped and shouted, "Black*Star!" Maka wasn't sure he was the source, but Tsubaki charged into the corn anyway.

"Wait, Tsubaki!" Maka called frightfully. It was no use. Tsubaki was gone. Maka turned to Soul with horror in her eyes. Soul didn't seem as scared as her, but his eyes were widened slightly. Wordlessly, Soul reached his hand out toward Maka's and she grasped it firmly.

"Let's just keep going," Soul said firmly, as he led the way.

Suddenly, there was a piercing shriek from the right half of the maze. "Liz!" Maka shouted. "That was Liz!" She whipped her phone out to call the girl. "What?! I have no service in here!"

Soul checked his phone. "Damn, me neither," he confirmed.

"What do we do?!" Maka practically screamed.

"Calm down," Soul said soothingly. "It's Liz. She probably saw a spider or something." He smirked at her and squeezed her hand.

Maka took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's just get through this. I hope we meet up with everyone again soon…"

They were stopped a few times by ghosts or zombies popping out of the corn, and every time Maka did jump and shriek a little, but for the most part, she was more worried about the whereabouts of her friends. Suddenly, the two came upon the wooden tower in the middle of the maze that Kilik had talked about.

"We can climb up here and see if we can find any of them!" Maka said. She dragged Soul toward the ladder, but stopped short when she saw a figure in white slumped down in front of it. Maka stepped closer and recognized the figure.

"Tsubaki!" she screamed. The girl was pale as a ghost with blood and bruises scattered across her skin. She was breathing, but barely. "Tsubaki, oh Death, Tsubaki, what…" As Maka leaned down toward Tsubaki, a rabid growling started from the tower. Out jumped Black*Star, whose eyes were blacked out and fingers were clawed. He jumped from the tower effortlessly and huddled over Tsubaki, still growling. Maka screamed and stepped back into Soul, who finally looked completely freaked out. Then, out from the tower came Liz, Patty, and Kid, all dressed in white and covered in blood like Tsubaki. They soundlessly climbed down the ladder to Maka, who continued screaming and buried herself in Soul's chest. Soul was frozen, Maka noticed, his soul shooting frightened wavelengths out.

"Soul what do we do? What do we-"

Then every member of the group except Soul burst out laughing.

Maka peeked out from Soul's chest. "Wha…?"

They had all reached the ground and Black*Star was peeling his clawed nails off. "What the hell?" Maka asked, thoroughly confused.

Black*Star shouted, "Bwahahah! We tricked you, Maka! You should have seen the look on your face!"

He imitated her in a high-pitched voice, "Oh Soul, Soul help mee!" putting his arms across his chest and making kissy faces.

"IT WAS JUST A JOKE?" Maka shouted back, half furious and half relieved.

Liz spoke up. "You know, you're the only one here that hasn't gone to this maze before, and we knew you wouldn't be scared by any of the regular stuff, so…"

Tsubaki smiled apologetically. "It was Black*Star's fault. He really wanted to see you scared. It's because you're always so courageous, Maka! And we knew you'd come looking for us, since you're such a good friend..."

Maka was baffled. "Well…Well I mean yeah, of course I would..." She paused to think. She _had_ come to the maze to be scared, after all. After a moment, she sighed. "Alright, Alright, you guys got me." Tsubaki looked relieved.  
Soul spoke up from behind her. "And how come I wasn't in on it?" he inquired, sounding slightly angry.

Kid answered, "That's simple. We knew you wouldn't go along with it." The rest of the group nodded. Soul sighed. "Whatever," He seemed to want to drop it suddenly.

Maka shrugged. "Well. That was crazy! I'm ready to call it a night."

The group headed out of the maze via a straight path from the tower (for those too chicken to find their way out the hard way) and back to the shack to say goodbye to Kilik. Then they began their walk home.

When it was just Maka and Soul, Maka asked, "Why would you not have let them play that prank on me?"

Soul sighed and looked unsure of what to say. "Well, you know…I'm your partner. I don't really like to trick you, we're supposed to trust each other and all…"  
"What would you have done if they told you what they were planning?" she inquired.  
Soul thought for a minute, then grinned. "I would have told you ahead of time, so that we could turn the prank on _them_."

Maka laughed, then turned to him seriously. "I do trust you, Soul. With my life."

Soul smiled softly and took Maka's hand. "So do I, Maka." Maka felt butterflies in her stomach at his touch. She smiled the entire way home.

When they got to the apartment complex, Ox Ford was standing outside of it, holding a giant bag of assorted candies. Soul let go of Maka's hand immediately. Maka knit her brows in confusion. "Ox? What are you doing here?"

Ox smiled shyly. "Hello Maka. Will you go to the Halloween dance with me?" he asked, holding out the candies. Maka froze.

"U-um," she stuttered, "Ox, I thought you were going with Kim?"

Ox's face dropped. "She..she said no." Suddenly Maka felt really bad for saying anything. She knew Kim was too hard on Ox, even though she liked him too.

"Okay, Ox. Let's go to the Halloween dance together. But my costume is a secret, so we can't match or anything. Is that okay?"

Ox grinned widely and stepped closer to give Maka the candies. "Yeah, sure, that's fine!"

After Ox left, Soul turned to Maka, his mouth dropped open. "What was that?" he asked. Maka could swear he looked sort of..._angry?_

"Well," she replied, "I'm obviously still going to be with our group the whole time. I just felt bad...Ox looked so sad when I brought up Kim..." Soul shook his head at her and went in to the house. Maka followed after, thinking this had been the weirdest day of October so far. What was going to happen on Halloween?

* * *

**A/N) Ayyyyyy so how'd you guys like it? I'm writing this thing so fast, I'm sure there's little errors in there somewhere :s Let me know! Also, did ya like how I just slid in there that little head-cannon that Maka gets scared of thunderstorms and makes Soul sleep with her hehehEHEHE. Goodness. Um anyway. I'm currently writing the last chapter. As soon as this has enough reviews, I can finish this puppy! :D **

** Oh, and for the previous reviewers, thank you!**

**Guest: No way, I love hearing what everyone is going as for Halloween! (:**

**Angel-of-Darkness421: Thank you! I hope mine turns out as well. Alright let's see. For your costume, it all depends on what type you want. Are you in the mood for something scary? Something sexy? Something funny? I always google generic things like "halloween costume idea" to start, there's tons of lists out there. Also! If you're into doing crazy makeup and effects like I am, go on youtube and search "halloween makeup" and see which costumes there catch your interest. I hope you find something cool!**

**SaYa DeMoN DaRkNeSs: how'd you like it ;)**

**BeriForeverFan: DUDE RIGHT I'm obsessed! Fall is definitely my favorite time of year.**

**Guest2: There ya gooooooo, friend!**

**As always, everyone, thanks for reading!**


End file.
